Reversible plow



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. PIECE. REVERSIBLE PLOW.

No. 477,912. Patented June 28, 1892.

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(NuModelJ a Sheefls8heet 2. A. PIRGH. REVERSIBLE PLOW- No. 477,912. J)3; Patented June 28, 1892.

3 SheetsShe et 3.

Patented June 28, 1892.

IIIE III (No Model.)

A. PIECE. REVERSIBLE PLOW.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST PIROH, or Los ANGELES,CALIFORNIA.

REVERSIBLE PLOW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 477,912, dated June28,1892. Application filed March 17, 1892'. Serial No. 425,233. (Nomodel.)

'To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat-I, AUGUST PIRCH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los An geles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in ReversibleSide-Hill and Ditching Plows, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of plows in which a right and a lefthand plow are secured together rear to rear and pointing in reversedirections.

One object of my invention is to increase 'the efficiency andconvenience of operation of this class of plows and to adaptsuch plowsfor ditching purposes.

A-further object of my invention is to produce a sulky-plow of thisclass which may be adjusted to the slope of the ground upon which it isused and which, without changing the position of the sulky with relationto the plow, will automatically turn theseat as the plow-beam isreversed, so that the driver will always face the team without anyeffort on his part to that end.

A further object is to provide convenient means for gaging the depth andwidth of the furrow which the plow will open.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective front view of my improved plow arranged tooperate as a side hill plow. Fig. 2 is a fragmental transverse,

sectional view on line a: a; of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 indicates the line ofsection. In this figure is also shown an enlarged 'detail of the lowerend of the plow-operating shaft with the thrust-nuts and collar inplace. Fig. 3 isaplan view of myim'proved plow arranged for ditchingpurposes. Fig. 4 isa fragmental side elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is afragmental sectional View on line 1 y, Fig. 3, looking toward the left.Fig. 6 is a plan elevation of the landside dirt-guard removed fromtheplow. The position of the plow-standard c is indicated by dottedlines in this view. Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the beam-adjusting'device, showing a second position in dotted lines. A portion of the guideA and a fragment of the beani and truss are shown in this view. Line 2IejFig. 3, indicates the point of view.

Fig. 8is a fragmentary view illustrating the guide engaging thepawl-head and'the notches Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5 to contract the view.

My invention comprises the combination of a reversible plow having itsbeam journaled to revolve, a sulky-wheel arranged atone side of suchbeam and attached thereto by intermediate means, a seat arranged abovesuch sulky-wheel and ournaled to revolve, suitable intermediate meansconnecting the plowbeam and the seat to cause the seatto rotate incorrespondence with the plow-beam when such beam is rotated, and meansfor locking the beam with relation to the plow.

My invention also comprises the combination, in a plow, of ahorizontally-arranged hoop or band forming a circular beam guide andbrace, a truss extending across the center of such guide and secured ateach end to such guide, a right and a left hand plow placed rear to rearand having their standards pivotally secured to such truss, a plowbeamarranged substantiallyin line with the truss and pivoted thereto byapivot arranged at the center of the circular guide, suitable means forguiding such plow-beam around such circular guide, suitable means forlooking such beam upon such guide, and suitable means for depressing orelevating the points of such plows to cause them to enter or with- ,drawfrom the ground.

My invention further comprises the combination of a circular beam guideor brace, a truss extending across the center of such circular guide andhaving its ends attached to such guide,a plow-beam pivoted to such trussat the center of the circular guide and provided with guidingdevicesarranged to engage such guide and slide therearound when the beam isrotated, a right and a left hand plow placed rear to rear and havingtheir standards pivotally secured to-the truss, a sulky-arrn having itsinner end-attached to the truss, extending outward 'u nder the circularguide and attached thereto, a supportingwheel adj ustably secured to theouter end of such sulky-arm, a seat-bow provided with a seat andpivotally attached to such sulky-arm,

a sprocket-wheel fixed to such seat-bow at its pivotal point,asprocket-wheel attached to the plow-beam at its pivotal point, asprocketchain connecting such sprocket-wheels, means for locking theplow-beam in position upon the circular guide, and means for depressingand elevating the points of such plows to cause them to enter or towithdraw from the ground. 7

My invention also comprises the combination of a plowshare and amold-board, a standard secured thereto,abeam-guide attached to suchstandard and provided with a suitable pawl-receiving notch and arrangedto allow lateral movement of such beam,a plow-beam provided with asuitable guideway arranged to engage such guide to allow lateralmovement of the beam,-abeam-adjustinglever pivotally secured to suchplow-beam and provided with a pawl arranged to engage a suitable rackrigidly fixed to the beam, such rack, and means for operating the pawls.

The invention also comprises, in a reversible plow, the combination of aright and a left hand plow secured rear to rear, a plowbeam attached tosuch plows, suitable means for operating such plows, and a sheetkmetallandside dirt-guard substantially conforming to the shape of andarranged to cover the open space upon thelandside of each plow, and

suitable means for securing such guards to such plows.

My invention also comprises various other features and combinationshereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

The circular guide A is formed of a band or hoop of wrought, cast, orforged metal of suitable thickness to secure the desired strength. Asillustrated in the drawings, the truss which extends across the guide Ais formed of the parallel transverse beams B B, which have their ends I)b firmly secured to such band upon the inside thereof, and are arrangedwith a space I)" shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3) between them to admitthe standards 0 c of the plows'O O, which are secured thereb'etween bymeans of the bolts 0" c. It will be understood that if the guide A is ofcast metal the truss may be cast integral therewith without departingfrom my invention. 7

The plow-beam D is provided on its under side with the guide bearing anddraft-plate E, which is secured to the beam by bolts E, and is providedat its ends with the guideseats e e, which are'arranged to embrace thecircular guide or rack A, the lugs e" preventing upward displacement ofthe beam.

The plow-beam D is pivoted to the truss '3 B by means of the plow-depthadjusting screw-shaft- F, which is provided at its upper end with thecrank-arm f, and which passes through suitable holes provided in suchplowbeam and plate E therefor and also through the nuts G G, which arearranged above and below the truss B B, and are secured theretobysuitable means, such as the lugs g g, which are arranged to engage theend of the sulky-arm J and the -'sides.of thetruss-beams B B,respectively, to prevent the nuts from turning when the shaft F isrotated. The shaft F extends below the nut G to a point near the base ofthe plow-standards c c, to which standards it is connected by means ofthe braces H H, which are pivoted to the standards by bolts h h, andarev also pivoted to the collar h, which acts as a journalbox for. thelower end of the shaft F. Above and below the collar h are placed thethrustnuts I I, which are rigidly secured upon the shaftF by suitablemeans, such as the setscrews 2'11.

To regulate the width of the furrow which the plow will open,I providethe lateral.plow-..

beam-adjusting lever K, which is pivoted to the plow-beam D byintermediate means, such as the brace L and pivot Z, and is providedwith a pawl k, which has a head which is nearly cylindrical in form andis connected with the body of the pawl by a narrow neck -2, and isadapted to engage the notches a,

which are provided in the top of the guide A for its reception. Thispawl is operated by a grip-lever and connecting-rod 7c" and a spring70".

When the plow-beam is thrown over, as is indicated in dotted lines inFig. 7, an ordi-v nary-shaped pawl-head would be withdrawn from thenotch if the line of draft were suddenly shifted toward the left. vToprevent this I make the pawl-head it nearly cylindrb cal in form andattach it to the bodyk of the pawl bya neck 2, and I also make thenotches a. of a circular form with contracted months. When the lever Kis inclined, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 7, the pawl-head willbe retained in the notch by the contracted mouth of the notch until thelever K is thrown upright.

Fig.8 illustrates in dotted lines the position assumedby the head of thepawl in the notch a when the lever K is inclined to the right. The leverK is also provided with a. pawl M, which is arranged to engage a rack N,which is rigidly fixed to the plow-beam D, and such pawl is operated bythe grip-lever and connecting-rod m and spring m. It will be understoodthat the rack N forms the are of a circle, of which the pivot l is thecenter. The inner end of the sulky-arm J rests upon the top of thetruss-beams B Band is secured in place by the stern of the screwF,'which passes therethrough, and such arm is bent downward and passesout beneath the guide A, to which it is rigidly secured by means of thebrace-strap j, which is arranged to hold the arm a sufficient distancebelow the bottom of the guide to leave a space 6" to allow the passageof .the lug (2" between the arm and guide when the plow-beam is reversedby semtrotating it upon the shaft F. A short distance outward from theguidcAthe sulky-.

arm J is bent at right angles and extends upward. a suitable distance toform a vertical guide 7 for the supporting-wheel guide-brace arm O,whichis provided with the'guide-seat O and the anti-friction rollers 0,arranged to slide along the guide j. Above this guide portion j the armis again bent at right angles and at its end is provided with the nutj", through which the wheel-height-adjusting screw'P screws to raise andlower the wheel Q with relation to the plows C C. The wheel Q isjournaled between the two arms q g, which are formed of a single strapof metal bent into U shape and attached to the bracearm 0 by welding orother suitable means:

Upon the top of the outer end of the bracearm 0 and directly over theaxle of the wheel Q is placed the seat-bow R,which is reversely bent toform the U-shaped portion r, and the stem of the wheel-adjusting screwPis passed through suitable perforations provided in such reverse bends.The bow'is then bent to the rear and bowed upward and forward to receivethe seat 1".. The foot and seat-bow is provided on its outer end with afoot-testis;

To the top member of the reverse bend r is rigidly secured thesprocket-wheel T bybolts 3, and which is connected by sprocket-chain twith thesprocket-wheel T, which is rigidly secured upon the beam D atits pivotal point by bolts 4. The hole 8 in the foot-rest brace S andthe hole 0"" in the upper member of the bend 1' of the seat-bow springB, through which the wheel adjusting screw-shaft P passes, are largeenough to allow the said shaft to slip easily therethrough. Thescrew-threads upon the lower end of such shaft are cut away to form thetenon p, which passes through the lower member of the reverse bend r,the wheel-brace, arm 0, and the top of the inverted U-shaped wheel-armsqq, and is sesecured against removal 'by' the pin 19'. A suitablehand-wheel 19'. is secured upon the top of the screw-stem P. to operatethe screw to raise and lower the wheel Q with relation to the plows. I

U is a sheet-metal guard-plate conforming to the shape of and arrangedto cover the open space. upon the landside of the plow to prevent thedirt from falling between the plows when in use, which would result inraising the rear plowshare in passing over the dirt which had fallenbetween the plows and so cause the front plow to run too deep.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a fragm'entof this plate secured upon the rearplow; but in the other views they are removed to expose theconstruction. to is a screw, which passes through such plate and screwsinto thelug 21,, which is provided upon the mold-boards. u" areperforations, through which bolts may be passed to secure suchguard-plate to the plow-standards in case it is deemed necessary.

In Fig. 3 I have shown the rightand left hand-plows, both pointing inthesame direction to adapt the plow for ditching, the stand bolt c andto the standard'c by the bolth,

which secures the brace H tothe standard 0. When placed inthisposi'tion, the rear portion of the plow isunsupported, and toprevent the operator from tipping over back ward when turning the plow Iprovide a suitable brace W, which I have indicated by dotted lines inFig; 4c, and which 'is simply theplow-standard and landside connected bya diagonal brace w. It'will' be understood that in practice thescrew-stem F is designed to be strongenough to bear the thrust of theplow, or a suitable brace may be extended from the collar h to the rearportion of the guide A to receive the thrust. This, however, wouldreadily suggest itself to any one versed in the art and does not requireillus-j tration.

'In practice the operator rotates the screw F, which screws through thenuts G G. The thrust-nuts I I, rotating with the screwstem, bear againstthe collar h to raise or lower it with relation'to the plow-beam' Ifthehan- 'dle f is rotated to the left, the collar h is thrust downwardand the braces H H force the standards 0 c apart at the bottomand causethe points 'of the'plo'wshare to rise, as lindicated in dotted lines inFig. 4. 'When it is desired to force the plow into the ground,

the action of the screw is reversed and the bottoms of standards 1 c aredrawn toward each other, thus causing the points of the shares to lowerand enter the ground. The

operator can adjust the height of thewheel Q with relation to the plowsO O by rotating the hand-wheel p". The screw P, acting upon thescrew-nut j", forces the Bulky-wheel Q nearer to or farther from suchnut, and so jraise's or lowers the wheel with relation to the plows tosuit the slope of the ground upon which it isused. When the end of thefur row is reached, the operator raises the pawlhead it out of thenotch'ct' bymeans of the grip-lever k" and turns the horses from him inthe reverse direction. Thebeam D, being freed from its engagement withthe guide A, revolves upon the stein of the screw F as the 'horses turn:.As soon as this rotation of the beam has carried the pawl-head k'beyond:the notch a, from which it is raised, the op- I erator releases theleverk" and the spring 15'' forces the pawl down upon the upper face ofIIO the guide A, along which it slides until it reaches and enters thenotch a upon the op jpositeside of the guide from that from which 'itwas released, and so again locks the beam" upon the guide. The operatordrives the team back along the furrow, opened when traveling in thereverse directiomthe hor'se whiclrtraveled upon the land smashin -0mgtraveling in the furrow in makingthe' return trip; The same operation'is 'repeated'when the 'end of the furrow is reached, the opera; torthus alternately using the right and left hand plows and alwaysthrowingthe furrow in the same direction.

As the beam D re volves, the sprocket-wheel T revolves there with, andacting through the medium of the sprocket-chain t rotates thesprocket-wheel T, the seat-bow R, and seat r, while the sulky-wheel Q,brace-arm O, and sulky-arm J hold the screw-stem P firm to allow theseatbow and footbrace to revolve thereabout, thus causing the seat toautomatically turn and the driver to always face the horses without anyefiort for that purpose on his part.

When it is desired to change the width of the furrow which the plow willcut, the pawl M is released from the rack N and the lever K is thenforced away from the operator, the pawl-head 70' beingin the notch a.The beam D is forced along the guide A away from the landside of theplow. When the plow is thus adjusted to cut the desired width of furrow,the pawl M is released and engages the rack N to hold the beam in thedesired position upon the guide A. To cause the plow to take a narrowfurrow, the pawl M is released from the rack, as before, and the lever Kis drawn toward the operator, thus drawing the plow-beam over thelandside of the plow which is in use, causing it to take a narrowerfurrow.

When it 'is desired to use the plow as a ditcher, the plows are placedside by side, as shown in Fig. 3, and are secured by the bolts 0 and72.. These bolts are shown in Fig. 1. The plow thus throws the dirtright and left and forms a ditch. If desired, an additional set ofplowshares may be attached by the bolts 0 and h so that the ditcher willbe reversible the same as when arranged for sidehill plowing. The draftand guide-bearing plate E pulls against the circular guide A but thetruss-beams B B being substantially in line with the plow-beam D thestrain is practically upon the truss and not upon the guide. As the beamrevolves, the lugs e" slide along the bottom of the guide and holds thebeam firmly upon the track or guide.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, iS-

1. In a plow, the combination set forth of a plow-beam pivoted to theplow, a circular guide and rack fixed to the plow, means for locking thebeam to the rack and releasing it therefrom to allow its rotation, asulky-wheel connected with the guide and rack by a suitable arm, andmeans for depressing and elevating the points of the plow.

2. The combination set forth of the plow.- beam, the plows pivotedthereto, the thrustnuts attached to the beam, the screw-stem arranged toscrew through the thrust-nuts and connected by suitable means to thepivoted plows near the base of the plow-standards, and means forrotating the screw-stem to draw the standards together or to force..them apart to depress or elevate the points of the plows. 3. Thecombination of a reversible plow having its beam journaled to revolve, asulky= wheel arranged. at one side ofsuch beam and attached thereto byintermediate means, a seat arranged above such sulky-wheel and journaledto revolve, suitable, intermediate means connecting the plow-beam andthe seat to cause the seat to rotate in correspondence with theplow-beam when such beam is rotated, and means for'locking the beam withrelation to the plow.

4. The combination, in a plow, of a horizontally-arrangedcircularbeam-guide, a truss extending across the center of such guideand secured at each end to such guide,a right and a left hand plowplaced rear to rear and having their standards pivotally secured to suchtruss, a plow-beam arranged substantially in line with such truss andpivoted thereto by a pivot arranged at the center of the circular guide,suitable means for guiding such plow-beam around such circular guide,means for locking such beam upon such guide, and means for depressingand elevating the points of such plows to cause them to enter orwithdraw from the soil.

5. In a reversible plow, the combination of a circular beam guide orbrace, a truss extending across the center of such guide and having itsends attached to such guide, a plow-beam pivoted to such truss at thecenter of the circular guide and provided with guiding devices arrangedto engage such guide and slide therearound, a right and a left hand plowplaced rear to rear and hav- .ing their standards pivotally secured tothe truss, a sulky-arm having its inner end secured to the truss,extending outward under the circular guide and attached thereto, asupporting-wheel adjustably secured to the .outer end of such sulky-arm,a seat-bow provided with a seat and pivotally attached to suchsulky-arm, a sprocket-wheel fixed to such seat-bow at its pivotal point,a sprocket-wheel attached to the plow-beam at its pivotal point, asprocket-chain connecting such sprocketwheels, means for locking theplow-beam upon the circular guide, and means for depressing I andelevating the points of such plows to cause them to enter or to withdrawfrom the ground.

6. The combination of the plow share and the mold-board, the standardsecured thereto, the beam-guide attached to such standard and providedwith a suitable pawl-receiving notch and arranged to allow lateralmovement of such beam, the plow-beam provided with suitable guidewaysarranged to engage such guide to allow lateral movement of the beam, thebeam-adjusting lever pivotally secured to such plow-beam and providedwith the pawl arranged to engage the guide and also provided with thepawl arranged to engage a suitable rack secured to the beam, such rack,and means for operating the pawls.

7. In a reversible plow, the combination of the circular beam-guide, thetruss extending IIC ing their standards pivotally secured to such truss,the plow adjusting screw passing through the plow-beam and thescrew-nuts, such screw-nuts arranged above and below the truss, thecollar journaled upon the lower end of such plow-adjusting screw,-thethrustn-ut-s rigidly secured upon such screw above and below suchcollar, the braces pivotally connecting such collar with theplow-standards,the plow-beam provided with suitable guiding'devicesarranged to engage the circular guide to allow the beam to rotate uponthe plow-adj usting screw-stem, and means for locking the plow-beam uponsuch circular guide. e V

8. In a reversible plow, the combination'of the circular guide providedwith the pawlnotch having a narrow mouth, the plow-beam' pivoted to suchcircular guide, the beam-shifting lever. pivoted to such beam andprovided .with the pawl having a cylindrical head connected tothe shankof the pawl by a neck and arranged to engage such notch in the guide, arack attached to such'beam, suitable means-arranged upon suchbeam-shiftinglever to engage such rack, and a right and a left hand plowplaced rear. to rear and having

